


forward thinking

by ignitesthestars



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, F/M, Pre-Relationship, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 04:28:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12313725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ignitesthestars/pseuds/ignitesthestars
Summary: Lucretia does her best not to speculate.She’s a chronicler. Her job is to record the things that actually happen, not wonder about where things might go.But they’ve all had to adapt over the past few years (cycles, they’ve started thinking of them as, because time is not passing in the usual way, or in any sensible way at all). So maybe she starts to wonder what happens if they can’t figure out how to end this, if her life just becomes one endless cycle of running and failing, running and keeping an enemy from victory, but never stopping and winning.





	forward thinking

Lucretia does her best not to speculate.

She’s a chronicler. Her job is to record the things that actually happen, not wonder about where things might go.

But they’ve all had to adapt over the past few years ( _cycles_ , they’ve started thinking of them as, because time is not passing in the usual way, or in any sensible way at all). So maybe she starts to wonder what happens if they can’t figure out how to end this, if her life just becomes one endless cycle of running and failing, running and keeping an enemy from victory, but never stopping and winning.

Is she twenty two, or twenty six? It shouldn’t matter, not when they have bigger questions like ‘how to save all of existence?’ on their plates, but it does anyway.

“You’re looking way too serious for such a pretty night, Lucretia.”

Not so long ago, Magnus stomping up onto the deck of the _Starblaster_ would have scared the crap out of her. But on this crew, you get used to loud noises and people popping out of strange places. So she twists her head back over her shoulder to give him a muted smile as he joins her leaning against the railing.

“I was just thinking. You should give it a try,” she teases.

“Oooh, one-two punch straight to the gut. You’re a cruel lady.”

He nudges her with his shoulder to show he doesn’t mean it, and she rocks back to say the same. The truth is, Lucretia hadn’t necessarily...liked Magus when they’d first met. It wasn’t that he’d been a bad person or anything, just that he never seemed to take anything seriously. He processed things in the exact opposite way to her, if he processed them at all - always leaping before he looked, rushing to do what he thought was best _right then_ instead of what was best _overall_.

Of course, that was what made Magnus the muscle, and Lucretia the chronicler. She stopped to think so much that she never _did_ , and she’s beginning to wonder if maybe that dislike in the beginning of all this had just been jealousy.

“Do you ever think about how we’re going to get out of this, Magnus?” she asks, staring up at the sky. She should be sketching the constellations or something, but they’re done this enough times now that she knows she has a year. She can schedule in a break tonight.

“Nah.”

She blinks. “What, really?”

“My job is to keep you all safe. And I know I’ve bonered that up a couple of times but - that just means I’ve gotta get better at it, you know? I can help the most by getting stronger.”

 _What if you can’t, though?_ Questions swirl in her mind, and a couple of cycles ago she might have even asked them. _What if there is no stronger? What if strength isn’t the thing that beats this? What if you do get stronger, and it’s still not enough to win?_

Lucretia has never been an especially competitive person. She’s never wanted so badly to win in her entire life.

“You help with more than just that,” she says instead. “This place would be duller without you, Magnus. Any place.”

She doesn’t look at him when she says it, but he turns red enough that she can catch it from the corner of her eye anyway. That startles her more than his sudden appearance, because she hadn’t been trying to make him blush. She hadn’t really thought that she could.

“Still.” He coughs. “Nothing like what you do, right?”

“Uh…” She’s an exceptionally intelligent person, she knows that, but she still has no idea what he’s talking about.

“C’mon, don’t give me that. Are you kidding? Sure, Lup and Barry and Taako are all big on the Science and Magic stuff, but you know your stuff too. And you’re doing more than just trying to save the future.”

Lucretia blinks.

“The planes we’ve lost already, the ones we might be able to take care of in the future - the only way we’re going to be able to remember them is because of you. You beat up the Hunger every time you start writing. Pretty sure that beats kicking ass any day.” He pauses. “Well, most days.”

For the first time, it occurs to her that just because Magnus is always rushing in, it doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t stop and think about things later.

She starts to laugh, leaning into him for support instead of the railing. He slips one big arm around her waist and pulls her in closer.


End file.
